We love Instagram. It's a simple social space where we can enjoy family and friends' intimate photos while at the same time stalk celebrities, pick up fashion tips, laugh at animals doing adorable things, drool over dishes from exotic restaurants and best of all, admire crazy killer views from all over the world.

But is it a place where eyou want to book your hotel room? Conrad Hotels hopes so.

The Hilton Hotels brand has partnered ups with Like2Buy technology to allow followers to book a hotel through Instagram. Here's how it works:

There was a ton of backlash this year about different brands "commemorating" the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, especially when those brands were inserting their product into the "remembrance." (yeah AT&T, we're talking about you.) But this Marriott Hotel's tribute to those who died on 9/11 is just bewildering.

A hotel guest tweeted this pic of the perplexing offering. After the photo blew-up on Twitter with folks mostly making fun of the offering but a few also thinking it was pretty offensive and cheap, Marriott Hotels then issued their own tweet-pology:

We are aware of the picture shared of an offer at one of our hotels, and we sincerely apologize for any perceived insensitivity.

Oy vey. But we can understand the hotel was coming from a good place, giving guests a chance to remember the national tragedy together. Maybe next year, put more emphasis on the remembering and not mention the mini muffins.

It has been said that 10% of all photos ever taken were taken in 2012. What of 2013, then? Will this be the year the same is said for videos, after the launch of Vine and, just yesterday, Instagram Videos?

Already we've noticed how the super-short films can play into travel marketing. Airlines figured this out nearly immediately but, as usual, hospitality is having a little rougher time adapting to the new social media medium. In-room hairdryers just aren't as dynamic as jet engines, you know?

Well, after all the hemming and hawing over fluctuating, inflated hotel room rates for the London 2012 Olympics, the Games are finally upon us.

There have been 8 million tickets sold for the 17 days of competition, and the Opening Ceremony is tonight. So, where will everyone be staying? Social location-sharing app Foursquare has an idea, since they've just gathered data on what London hotels are most popular, overall.

Just in time for the holidays, a new social networking site has launched that allows users to create wish lists of all their favorite things from the web. Say, for example, you like the Loden Dager denim bathrobes at Hotel Americano; or this vintage photo of the original Ace New York building. By "fancy-ing" each new item, you start to build a virtual "collection" of stuff that allows other users to follow you, be inspired by your things, or recommend new things for you to like.

Like any lifestyle blog or online store, The Fancy has quite a few categories to browse through (men's, women's, gadgets, art, food, etc), but one tag that seems to do particularly well? Hotels.

Happy early Social Media Day! Yep, there's now a day honoring our Facebook, Twitter and other electronic habits as well as our computer-addicted social media community. Hotels are getting into the holiday spirit by offering a slew of social media specials to celebrate the June 30 festivities.

Hotel Twitter accounts: we love ‘em, stat. So when we were sent a 16 page report yesterday calling itself a “social media whitepaper” and promising to reveal the most influential hotel Twitter accounts – by crunching together follower engagement, customer rating, conversion rate, third party referrals and brand building - we were more than intrigued.

Until, that is, we opened it, got to page 9, where the rankings were stashed away, and saw that, at the top of the board was the Twitter account for the Cosmopolitan Las Vegas, @Cosmopolitan_LV. Really? The most influential and popular Twitter account out of every single hotel and hotel brand in the world?

Just a few weeks ago, we were trying to make some sense out of the TopGuest social media rewards program. While we liked the idea of a program that rewards us for our social media activity at hotels, TopGuest became hard to keep up with.

TopGuest founder Geoffrey Lewis did a comment to HotelChatter detailing some updates to the program that should clear up some of the confusion and we're now checking them out.

Yet even as we continue to mull this program over, TopGuest is still going gangbusters on attracting new partners. The latest to join the fray--Thompson Hotels.

After you download the TopGuest iPhone or Android app (and of course, register for a free TopGuest membership), you can earn 15 percent off at any Thompson Hotel after five Facebook or Foursquare check-ins. Not too bad, especially if you frequent the many bars and restaurants of Thompson Hotels in LA, NYC, DC, Toronto and Chicago.

How awesome would it be to get loyalty program points just for visiting a hotellike dining at its restaurant, grabbing a beer at the bar or just meeting in its lobbyinstead of only for the time you actually sleep there?

Put very simply, that's the concept behind the social media loyalty program TopGuest, which tracks your Foursquare and Facebook Places check-ins and awards you points when you stop by hotels under their program. It's an excellent, novel idea, but is it worth paying attention to?

TopGuest launched exclusively with Standard Hotels over the summer, and they quickly picked up further partnerships with the Soho Grand/Tribeca Grand Hotels, Viceroy Hotels and many others, even Holiday Inn. Check out the current full list in the image above (with a bonus of Virgin America and Avis thrown in). Now, we feel like we have a pretty well-rounded social life, and yet we haven't yet earned any rewards. What's up with that?

We're doing it again! After testing out our social skills with our LA meet up the other week, we've decided to step out in the Big Apple for another HotelChatter Meet Up. This time it's happening at the bar downstairs at Andaz 5th Avenue on Tuesday.

So if you love hotels, travel and drinking or if you just want the chance to say piss off hi to the HotelChatter team in person, come join us. We'll be Twittering our arrival and of course, our observations but don't worry, we won't make you use a hashtag or anything.

And while we haven't decided what we'll be wearing just yet, look for the drunks geeks hopping on the free WiFi with their gadgets. Hope to see you there!

Have you ever wanted to confront meet HotelChatter in person? Well if you're in Los Angeles today, Thursday, November 11, now is your chance.

We're holding a very laid-back meet-up at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza inside their sexy X Bar for anyone who loves hotels, travel and drinking. (Note: these are not mutually exclusive.) And the key word is casual. We'll be squatting in a corner area of the bar, drinking away and probably Twittering. But don't worry, we won't force you to use a hashtag or anything!

We've decided on a cheetah print shirt in honor of our favorite Jersey "Housewife" Teresa and we'll also have a stack of HotelChatter stickers next to us (Sorry, we couldn't get them in a scratch n' sniff variety.) But if you can't find us, just ask the hostess where the party is convening. So please say you'll be there! (And try not to flake. We know your game all too well, Angelenos.)

Have you ever wanted to confront meet HotelChatter in person? Well if you're in Los Angeles on Thursday, November 11, now is your chance.

We're holding a very laid-back meet-up at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza inside their sexy X Bar for anyone who loves hotels, travel and drinking. (Note: these are not mutually exclusive.) And the key word is casual. We'll be squatting in a corner area of the bar, drinking away and probably Twittering. But don't worry, we won't force you to use a hashtag or anything!

And we promise to wear some identifiable piece of clothing or perhaps even carry a prop so you can easily spot us, but we're not quite sure what it will be just yet. Either way, it will be a great time for LA-area peeps to talk hotels. No reason why NYC should have all the fun! So please say you'll be there! (And try not to flake. We know your game all too well, Angelenos.)